COBB MOUNTAIN — A Record-Bee reader called Wednesday morning saying she was unable to reach anybody at Hoberg”s Resort regarding a weekend-long event called Cobb Mountain Days, which was apparently canceled without notice. The Record-Bee ran an article on Aug. 29 previewing the event and the resort”s re-opening.
Dan Ethan Nelson, manager of Hoberg”s, confirmed the event was canceled and offered to bring clarity to a number of issues and accusations made by members of the public, contractors and former employees.
Nelson said the weekend event was canceled because of construction and financial barriers. He said he is awaiting a loan and the venue is set to open Oct. 12. Nelson said all people who purchased tickets to the event have already received refunds.
He answered allegations about payroll issues saying, “Some people have not been paid in full and for those people we made arrangements to pay them as soon as this loan comes through.”
According to the California Department of Insurance, Nelson of San Jose was arrested and charged with felony workers” compensation insurance fraud on April 14, 2010 at the Oakland Airport by Alameda County Sheriff”s deputies and charged with one felony count of workers” compensation premium insurance fraud. He was sentenced to four months in the county jail, three years formal probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $55,000.
In 2006, Nelson”s Worldwide Attractions/Monster Magic LLC underreported payroll to SCIF by as much as $77,164.11. The underreported payroll resulted in a premium loss to the company”s insurer, SCIF, of approximately $11,255.55. Evidence seized from Worldwide Attractions/Monster Magic LLC/Blue Wave Holdings bank accounts, revealed an additional $507,178.16 in payroll that was found to have been unreported to SCIF. The discovery of the additional unreported payroll increased the premium loss to SCIF to approximately $57,327.68. The Santa Clara District Attorney”s Office prosecuted the case.
Nelson said Wednesday night that he has paid all of his restitution and that is behind him now and he is in the process of getting the felony reduced to a misdemeanor.
However, he said he pays Hoberg”s employees and contractors in cash because they asked him to for the sake of convenience. He said all deductions are done “absolutely appropriately and legally.” Nelson agreed to email payroll records to the Record-Bee for proof, but did not do so as of press time.
According to Nelson, there are currently only two employees of Hoberg”s. Nelson did not disclose how many employees have worked at the property, which is owned by Cobb Mountain Partners. Nelson said there are many silent partners included as owners and he does not know their names.
He responded to questions about the “Extreme Resort Makeover” television program saying “the crew is shooting on Sept. 26. He could not identify a network where the show would air and said “it is not pre-sold.” In a text message he wrote: “I can get you more stuff on the show this week, it”s a real positive thing for the resort and the county.”
Nelson later wrote in an email: “I will give you an entire piece on extreme Resort makeover and all the players. As you may know I come from a film background so we have some producer friends on the show. You are Welcome to look up what I have done in the movie business. Gerald Olson is a big producer http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0647910/ and one of the people behind the show as well as Frank Hagan who is worked on Donohue and Opra (sic) for years. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1852210/. The last one is a big editor in the reality show world too ? but I don”t have permission yet to announce him ? but done some cool stuff. One of my co-producers in the movie we are shooting at Hobergs is John Sullivan ? he just hit $40 million on Obama 2016 documentary ? he co-directed it and wrote part of it. He is available for interviews about what he is shooting at Hobergs ? it”s a project called “Descent of the Gods” I am also a producer on it. Mythbusters already shot out there and hopefully coming back to shoot another episode at Hobergs. We have a lot of film projects that we are doing at the resort.”
At about 2 p.m. on Wednesday two Record-Bee staff members went to the venue in an attempt to garner information, as telephone calls had not been returned by Hoberg”s management prior to the aforementioned telephone conversation with Nelson that occurred at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Upon arrival at the resort, two men and a woman in a white Jeep Liberty approached the Record-Bee staff members who were walking down the street toward the resort. The man driving asked, “What are you doing here?” After telling him the newspaper needed an update about the festival, he said he was not at liberty to discuss anything about the resort. He confirmed he was employed there, but refused to give his name, as did the other man and the woman.
Photographer Nathan DeHart took some photos of the vehicle”s occupants, who then threatened a lawsuit and after a few moments drove away in the opposite direction. But as the reporting team neared the front gate at the resort the Jeep made a U-turn and pulled into the entrance area.
The driver, later identified as Hoberg”s general manager Reginald Marvin Jr., jumped from the Jeep toward DeHart threatening to physically assault him and break his camera if he did not delete the photos. At that point, Record-Bee staff called 9-1-1.
The LCSO officer took a report and all parties left without incident.
Nelson offered an apology for Marvin”s actions at the resort site and Marvin also called at about 7 p.m. to apologize.
Mandy Feder can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 32 or mandyfeder@yahoo.com.
